This year’s Cy Young award races gave us one of the best feel-good stories and a knuckleballer in the National League as well as the tightest race ever in the American League.

The Baseball Writers' Association of America named New York Mets knuckler R.A. Dickey the winner in the NL and Tampa Bay Rays left-hander David Price the winner in the AL. It is the first Cy Young award for both players.

Dickey won his race by a mile, collecting 27 of 32 first-place votes and he was named second on the other five. Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw finished second and surprisingly was completely left off of two ballots—Bill Center of The San Diego Union-Tribune and Alvin Valdez of Hoy from the Miami chapter.

Dickey, who is missing a ligament in his elbow, was one of the best stories of the season. He is 38 years old and was almost out of baseball in the spring of 2010 because his stuff wasn’t good enough. Dickey was on the verge of going back to college to earn his English degree and become a high school teacher. But the knuckleball saved him and more than two years after Dickey contemplated quitting the game, he was named his league’s best pitcher.

It was also revealed this year in Dickey’s autobiography, Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball, that he was sexually abused as a child and that he contemplated suicide in his early 30s.

Dickey’s entire career arc makes this achievement that much more impressive. He was an easy guy to root for, and his on-field success made him a breakout star in 2012.

In the closest AL vote ever, outside of a tie in 1969, Price won the award with 153 total points—14 first-place votes, 13 second-place vote and one third-place vote. Justin Verlander finished with 149—13 first-place votes, 13 second-place votes and two third-place votes.

Rays closer Fernando Rodney received one first place vote and finished fifth. That vote, cast by Texas Rangers beat writer Drew Davison from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, pushed Verlander to second and Price to third on that ballot. That vote for Rodney definitely made a difference in this race.

Price finished second in this race in 2010 and is the first Rays pitcher to ever win the award. He was tied for the league lead with 20 wins and led the league with a 2.56 ERA. Maybe more impressive than those numbers was Price’s stats within his division, maybe the best offensive division in all the majors. He was 10-2 with a 2.51 ERA in 16 starts in the AL East, a division that housed four of the top nine lineups in terms of OPS.

Price was also 13-3 with a 2.27 ERA in 19 games against teams that finished above .500 and went seven or more innings in 23 of his 31 starts, the highest total in the majors. He also allowed two earned runs or less in 23 outings, again the most in the majors.